Read Online Until We Meet Again by Margaret Thornton - Free Book Online Page A

seems to be the general opinion; that it won’t last very long.’ Tilly thought she couldhear a note of regret in Dominic’s voice. ‘Hmm… rather a pity,’ he went on, ‘although I suppose I shouldn’t say that. I’d like to feel that I’d had a chance to fight for my country. And I know Tommy will feel the same as me.’
    Tilly felt a spasm of fear take hold of her. Her brother as well… It was just too awful to think about. ‘Don’t let’s talk about it any more,’ she said. ‘It’s too depressing. And we’ve had such a lovely evening…’
    Dominic smiled at her. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘That’s the difference between us men and you of the fairer sex. We’re encouraged to be tough and brave, like the knights of old, and rush to the defence of our womenfolk… I’d like to be your knight in shining armour, Tilly,’ he added roguishly.
    Again she felt herself blushing a little. She was not used to being on her own with a young man, and she was still not sure how to respond to this one. He was an odd sort of lad, jokey, and yet with a serious side to him. She managed to answer with a witticism to match his own.
    ‘Thank you, kind sir,’ she said coyly, ‘for your gallant proposal. How could I refuse?’ He could take that any way he wished. She wondered if he was hinting that he would like to see her again, on her own, away from her brother and family.If that was so, she had already decided that she would not say no.
    As they rounded the headland the twilight was deepening. The lights were twinkling around the harbour and bay, casting shimmering glints of gold onto the darkness of the sea. They walked past the stalls where, during the day, cockles, mussels, crabs, lobsters and many other kinds of seafood were on sale. The stalls were closed now for the night, but the fishy aroma still lingered. It was not an unpleasant smell, one that the residents were used to and to which visitors to the town soon became accustomed. It was the very essence of Scarborough.
    ‘I’ve been wanting to get to know you better for some time,’ Dominic said now, quite seriously, with no trace of his usual teasing manner. ‘Would you like to go out with me sometime, while we’re both on holiday? To a concert perhaps, or…I heard you say that you ride a bicycle. I do, too. We could ride out to…the Forge Valley, perhaps? That is…if you would like to?’
    ‘Thank you,’ she replied. ‘Yes, I would; I’d like that very much.’ She was seeing a different side to him now. He had appeared diffident in his approach to her, almost as though he was afraid she might refuse.
    ‘That’s good,’ he said. She could hear the reliefin his voice. But in an instant he had reverted to his joking self. ‘I’d have felt such a nincompoop if you had turned me down. I’ll see what’s on at the Spa Pavilion. There’s sure to be a concert of some sort; an orchestra or a choral evening.’
    ‘That would be lovely,’ she said, smiling at him a little shyly. The smile he gave her in return was just as bashful.
    ‘Come along,’ he said. ‘We’d better step out a bit now. It’s getting dark and I don’t want you to get into trouble with your parents for being out late. To say nothing of your brother.’ He chuckled. ‘I shall have to take good care of you or I’ll have Tommy to reckon with… You’re very close, you and your brother, aren’t you?’
    ‘Yes, I suppose we are,’ she replied. ‘That’s because we’re twins, of course. We put up a pretence sometimes of not being able to stand the sight of one another, but I think the world of him really. And I daresay he feels the same about me.’
    ‘Take my word for it, he does,’ replied Dominic.
    They walked up the steep path which led from the lower promenade up to the Grand Hotel, then across the Spa Bridge onto the esplanade. Dominic was unusually quiet as they approached Tilly’s home on Victoria Avenue. He lived not very far away, a little further